Concentration The Key to Winning, Says Thomas

GREENBURGH, NY, December 12, 2006 -- After last night’s schizophrenic performance against Boston -- almost winning after falling 30 points behind in the third quarter -- the Knicks remain a mystery neatly folded within a puzzle. Why isn’t the fighting spirit, the good play, the do-or-die determination more evident until they are down double digits in so many games? And what is Coach Isiah Thomas telling the players to resolve the situation and solve the season-long mystery?

“The things I‘m saying, you couldn’t print it,” smiled Thomas, leaning against the wall after practice at the team’s Madison Square Garden Training Center. “I can tell you, it’s really not much of a discussion. Think of my mother and Coach (Bob) Knight -- that’s kinda’ the conversation. More my mother, actually.”

“It’s kind of like that thing with the wounded animal,” forward Jared Jeffries, who stayed a good hour after everyone else was gone from the gym to shoot free throws, said. “It takes us to get wounded to really play hard. But we are working through things right now. We are still trying to figure out what the beginning of the game will hold for us: do we look to run? Do we look to push? Do we look to get the ball to Eddy (Curry) every time? We haven’t been together that long -- and it’s early. The chemistry will come real soon. The little nuances of playing together, well, they take time. But most of us have high basketball IQ-s. So we’ll figure it out.”

“Look, I admire the players’ courage, the fight, and the resolve to overcome big deficits,” said Thomas. “It’s intriguing… that fight, that spirit’s there. But now my job is to figure out a way to get them to sustain it.”

“It’s the most frustrating and puzzling thing right now to try to figure that right switch or button or emotion to hit in order to get that type of play and energy for 48 minutes,” added the coach.

“We are doing some very good things, some incredible things,” said Thomas. “Right now we have some very good individual players on our team that are playing extremely superb basketball. But there are little pockets where we have a 4-5 minute stretch where the game really gets out of control.”

“It’s not a physical issue -- it’s an emotional and mental mindset that needs to change.”

Thomas then called for more leadership ON the floor. He wouldn’t exactly name names, but “The person’s here,” he said. “I’ve just got to make sure that I… Actually, I think we have more than one. I just got to make sure that they are out there and they’re doing it.”

“We need more direction out there, “ said Thomas. ”And I’d rather get that direction at the beginning than when we are down 15.”

Of course, one of the things Thomas can do -- and in fact may soon be doing -- is experiment with different lineups. “We’ll continue to make some more changes and tinker because we can’t keep starting down ten, down fifteen. We’ve given up 30 points in a quarter. That’s far too many.”

Could Jeffries crash the starting lineup soon? More than anything, the Knicks want more defense so “we could be going in that direction,” said Thomas.

“Actually, I think we’ve been playing defense,” said Jeffries. “But we do have mental lapses here and there. When our shots don’t fall, I think it hurts us on the “D”.”

“When you’re not making shots, they get a chance to run back at you,” Jeffries explained. ”Then their shots are falling, so you’ve got to walk the ball up. You don’t get lay-ups and easy shots. You get out of your rhythm.”

“Champions can sustain concentration longer,” said Thomas. “That’s the key to winning. There’s a certain level of intensity you play with, a certain level of energy that you play with, and then you can sustain concentration for a longer period of time. And the moment you slip or make a mistake, the champion is there to pounce on it. That comes from great concentration. We definitely have to improve in that area.”